Team VACS (Vanquish)
by REORC Vector
Summary: My first attempt at a story. Rating is mostly for swear words, but I'm paranoid. Edited June 3rd.


**I do not own anything. (June 3rd: some small errors fixed)**

Within the bullhead's cargo bay, a 'huntsmen' team stood, briefly rechecking their gear. Their leader Carmine Ulthresa began their briefing, "We've been hired by the SDC to retrieve valuable information from a research station that went dark. Reports of Grimm activity are sketchy, but supposedly there are very little, if any. The bullhead shook a little from the turbulence caused by the storm outside. "Damn, the storm is picking up." she muttered, "Anyway we're looking for a man's personal laptop. A Doctor Retrer Thorpid. The SDC has gotten intel he is defecting to a rival company, and they wish for us to change his mind. If we can't, we eliminate him and get the data he has."

Velvel White interrupted, "What about other scientists else, or guards?"

"They're considered expendable, the SDC is concerned about the possible bribery of the guards and can afford to lose these men. However they lost all contact when the station went dark several days ago. It is unknown what happened." Velvel nodded.

"Are we infiltrating or going in loud?" Sigal Thyresh asked. She prefered the latter, but she saw the usefulness of stealth.

"They didn't ask , and I care not, so a vote is in need." And so they voted. Two hands for going in loud and one for stealth, the usual. Afanen scowled at losing the vote. She looked to Velvel before calling him a traitor. Velvel merely scoffed before turning back to Carmine.

"Loud it is, plan accordingly. The SDC was unable to give us an accurate map, as they were unable to procure the floor plan after a recent renovation"

"We're going in blind? What about garrison numbers?" Carmine shook her head. Velvel did not like this. Knowledge was power, and their distinct lack of it was troubling. It seemed strange. The SDC should have approved for the plans of the renovation, and kept plans in their main headquarters in Atlas.

"We'll work with what we got Vel." And with that she sat down, enjoying their rapidly shortening ride. The other three took their last moment of preparation. Velvel put on his gas mask, covering his face. Afanen finished sheathing her small knives all over her body, the heavy wool coat she wore impeding her a small amount. Sigal had fallen asleep in a very quick time.

"Two minutes to the LZ." The bullhead's speakers ruined the short silence they had been sitting in. The noise had not woken Sigal, and Velvel ended up doing it. The purple haired girl pouted.

"I was having such a good dream."

"Don't rub it in, Sigal." She smirked at her male teammate. She was about to say something, but the telltale signs of the bullhead landing stopped her. The landing door opened letting in the snow and the cold. Carmine stepped down the landing before turning back.

"Team VACS, let's go." And with that they walked into the storm. Their silhouettes lost to the bullhead within seconds by a wall of white flakes.

"The complex looks quite small Carmine." Sigal pointed out the obvious. The team had quickly reached the coordinates given to them by the SDC. The 'massive' research station they found was a building no more bigger than several rooms.

"Could it possibly underground, like in all the movies." Afanen threw out.

"Maybe, SDC HQ had no idea what the renovations were, like I said the complex has those plans." Carmine was on edge, much like Vel had told her before they entered the bullhead this mission seemed unusual. As they entered the perimeter of the building, Sigal, surprisingly, was the one to notice something.

"There's cameras following us." She pointed them out to less perceptive members of the group. There on a pole, almost blending into the white storm was a camera on a pole swiveling to follow the team as the drew closer to the building.

"Someone alive, using it or an automated system?" Velvel asked.

They arrived at the building, however they had to walk around it due to there not being a door on that side. They passed at least two more cameras as they searched for an exterior entrance. The must have missed it because they walked around it without finding one.

"I'll just melt through the wall." Afanen activated her semblance, this heated her body up to extreme temperatures, therefore allowing her to melt a hole through the wall. She could cool herself down to under freezing as well, but she hated the cold after feeling it left. It also took awhile to warm up, or cool down. It also had the habit of melting through normal clothing, resulting her to wear flame retardant gear all the time.

Team VACS entered through their improvised door. A dim red lighting covered the hallway the had entered.

"Facility must have lost the primary generator. It's using backup power." Carmine knew this because on a nearby screen the words _Primary generator disabled_ rolled on and off.

"So our first order of business is to turn that on?" Sigal asked.

"No, our primary objective is still the data within the Doctor's laptop." Carmine had no use of turning that back on. The faster they got that laptop the faster they got paid.

"Wait, if the facility is running on backup power, why were those cameras on?" Val asked.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to turn those off to conserve power?"

"Maybe someone turned them back on? It would make a little bit of sense. They would be able to look for grimm and intruders, such as ourselves."

"If they knew we were here wouldn't security be swarming us. Even with low power we came in with no authorization that they know of. They should have had guards up."

"Enough bickering." Carmine had enough of this. Standing around wouldn't help them, "Let's get what we need. Eliminate any resistance." And with that order, team VACS split into four lone wolves.

Carmine had been slightly annoyed by the dim lighting of the facility. Now she absolutely loathed it. It almost reminded her of the cliche horror games Sigal plays. Sneaking around a derelict spaceship, facility, etc. with creepy ambiance noises and dim lighting. She changed her grip on her Yari, Crimson Dawn. The facility was indeed bigger underground than above it. The team had agreed to rendezvous, unfortunately the twisting facility had all four member turned around. They really needed a map.

"Anyone else find it strange there have been no signs of life. No corpse, no interaction with anyone alive, hell not even any robots. This is unnatural. If everyone was dead there would be signs of the attack. But this, this just looks like everyone just up and left during the workday." Vel told Carmine over her scroll.

"I agree with Vel. Everything up until now has been sketchy. I say we leave, this ain't worth it." Afanen said.

"We're going to just abandon the mission, this isn't like us." Sigal argued. "We've never fled from a mission. Vel wouldn't be able to sleep if we did."

"I wouldn't be able to sleep if we didn't, I can't sleep. We have been over this Sigal."

"We'll spend the day here, if nothing turns up we'll leave. But if you find the original exit or our hole stay there. And if we can meet up with each other. Safety in numbers."

Silence reigned for hours. Carmine and the others kept walking down hallways, opening doors and searching rooms. Carmine was surprised at how sigal long remained quiet. Carmine was pleasantly surprised by Vel's voice breaking the silence.

"Team, I found the security station. I've got all the camera feeds. As well as a map of the complex."

"Well why don't you send it to us?" Carmine answered.

"Well it's in a physical form the best I can do is send you a picture, and that might not even be useful. And I may have found a clue as to where everyone went. One of the cams is watching what looks to be a cage, but there is a blood trail leading to it. I also found a personnel manifest." Vel was quiet for a minute. "Looking through the personnel manifest in here. I don't see the guy we're looking for on it."

"So what?" Sigal boredly asked. She has been doing nothing but walking through cold and dark hallways, occasionally looking in a room. She couldn't help but be bored.

"Why wouldn't he be there. If he was so important as they made him out to be, why isn't he more prominent? They would definitely want to keep track of him."

A flicker of movement on the cams caused him to turn his head. Uh oh. "Team looks like we have another group coming in."

"What I thought there were no Grimm around here?" Carmine cut in.

"No definitely human, Atlas military maybe. But actually one of them looks more like another huntsman. Wait, I can get some audio from the cam."

He strained his hearing and even then could only most some of what they said out of it. The huntsman looking one was apparently the leader.

"The SDC has tasked us with eliminating this rouge Huntsman team. You men are the Best of the Atlas military. I expect great things from you." Vel watched as the small squad passed out of the camera's view. Six guys that's it? To kill Team VACS, they would need more than that.

"Apparently the SDC set us up and we have a small group of soldiers coming after us." Vel informed them.

"How many are there?" Afanen asked. She was currently in a large lab type room, chemicals were all over the room. As the room was dimly lit she could not read them. She decided to rest for the remainder of the conversation taking a seat and running her hands through her blond hair.

"It appears to be a squad of six with one huntsman."

"That's it?" Sigal asked. "They are really coming after us with six soldiers and one huntsman."

"Well thats should be all the more reason to remain cautious about these seven. If the SDC is confident enough to only send in seven men after us, we need to exercise caution. Also there is a possible Grimm within the facility. We don't know it's strength." Carmine wasn't about to underestimate the Atlas military or the Grimm. Both had earned their reputation.

"I'll radio in if I get more info, Carmine, in the meantime I'm going to keep watching the cameras. Just a thought, but we may wish to use radio silence from now on." Vel threw in his two cents.

"No, we need to group up. Vel you had a map? We'll go back to the last named room we passed and you should try to lead us to someone else." Carmine shot down his idea.

"Alright leader. Where are you three?"

"I'm outside lab 1-4-B." Afanen was the first to radio in because of the short distance she had to walk.

"Give me a moment to find that the only light I have is from my scroll." While Vel was doing that he noticed a new sound pop up. It sounded as if something was releasing a gas, such as a pipe leaking or something. He turned and noticed a tan, translucent gas filling his room. He was completely unafraid as his gasmask was made to combat a type of gas released from a certain grimm. But better to warn the others about it.

"Leader, something is pumping a gas into the security station. I am unaffected by it, however I urge you to be careful around it, the effects are unknown."

"Acknowledged Vel, got that you two?" Carmine wasn't going to take any chances. Aura could heal light wounds and help protect against skin and muscle damage but most toxins, gases, and venoms were unable to be properly protected against. Once they enter your body aura treats it as part of the body, the same can be said about cancer, the mortal enemy of huntsman.

"Afanen I've found your location, anyone else got a point so I can roundevious her with you?" Vel asked.

"Yeah I'm near the supply storage rooms." Carmine was barely able to read the room name, but hopefully that would help Vel.

"How did you end up there? Okay, um… Sigal where are you?"

"A really big room filled with bodies."

"Wait," Vel turned from the map to the camera screens. "I got you on camera, turn to your left. No, not that far. Almost... Stop. Wave." Sigal waved to the camera and Vel smirked behind his mask. He sent her scroll a private message. _Ooh, do a little dance for me._ He watched her look down at her scroll, before looking up back at the camera and giving him the finger. He laughed a little.

"Uh, Vel, you there?" Carmine's voice brought him back to reality. "You fall asleep?" He could _hear_ the smirk growing on her face. He chose not to comment about it, but rather use a different attack.

"I'm here, don't get your panties in a twist. Or, wait, are you not wearing any again?"

"It was one time Vel!" She screeched at him. And he would never let her live it down. "Just find my location on your map." He looked for the supply storage. Okay, that actually worked.

"Alright fate smiles upon us for once. Carmine I'll lead you to Afanen, and along the way you can pick up Sigal. "Alright Carmine, according to this facing to door to the supply storage take a right. Then after three intersections make a left." He made sure he was leading her the right way as he awaited radio confirmation that she followed his steps.

"Alright so I'm after the third intersection."

"Did you take the left turn?"

"At the intersection?"

"No next intersection."

"The fourth intersection?"

"Yes that one!" Oh please don't let this be a repeat of the Mystral fiasco. Carmine got so lost she ended up in Vacuo. Well not quite but almost. About halfway there.

"Alright assuming you can follow basic instructions, you should almost be there, just a turn left and then in that hallway should be Sigal. Sigal wait outside the hallway for her.

"Okay Vel we've rendezvous with each other, where is Afanen?"

"After you walk all the way down the hallway you are currently in, the way opposite that Carmine came, take a right and then down that hallway then a left. You should meet her there." The two walked in silence. Vel didn't hear from them for a while. The walk looked like a long one, so he had no quarrel about them walking in silence. However when he heard footsteps her grew concerned, especially when they came from his left, not his right and that's where the door was. He looked back to the cameras, expecting just to see a glimpse of his teammates. Instead he got a view of a decent group of Atlas soldiers being led by that team he saw earlier.

"Oh crap, Carmine we have a small force of Atlessian's incoming."

"How many?"

"My rough estimate is about less than fifty, more than twenty seven. And they brought a spider crawler." He watched the six legged tank walk across the snowy ground. The spider crawler was replaced by the paladin but every once and awhile be pulled back into commision for a mission where a paladin was not thought to be needed.

"Vel how far out are they?" Afanen asked.

"It took us about eleven minutes to reach the complex from that camera. Their numbers and that tank should slow them down so maybe nineteen or twenty, however if they start booking it they could make it in about thirteen."

"Alright guide us out of here. Where is the entrance."

"No can do leader, I'd like to take our hole out of the complex. Less risk of running into the gas that way. I'll be there shortly."

"Understood Vel."

He grabbed the map, checked the cameras one last time and saw nothing out of the ordinary. As he left, however had he taken about two seconds longer he might have noticed the shape descend from the rafters in the storage room. Red eyes glowed in the darkness, before sinking into the shadows that covered the floor. The beast had now been awoken, and it would hunt once more.

Vel found the girls playing truth or dare in the middle of the hallway, trying to stave off boredom.

"I leave for like four minutes and this is what you do?"

"We were bored, sue us."

Vel shook his head in exasperation. "Alright I think I know where to go."

"Think?" Afanen didn't sound convinced."

"We made a hole in the wall in a random hallway. I'd like you to try to remember where we entered."

"He has a point Afanen." At least Carmine sided with him.

"Alright let's go." He started leading them the way he came. However on their way out, Carmine began feeling something wasn't right.

"You guys get that feeling of something of bad?" They stopped, turning to look at her.

"Could that be your semblance showing? Or just intuition?" Sigal asked.

Carmine's semblance hasn't shown yet. Vel's wasn't useful during combat situations, and Afanen's was very situation in combat if useful at all. Sigal's was the only one who was useful.

She could mess up her enemies, allies, anyone's really, nerve systems. Delaying messages, speeding up them. She couldn't stop them, but she has proven she can be really annoying. But she had to be touching the person to affect them.

Vel's semblance allowed him to not need sleep. Actually it stopped him from getting any at all. His semblance had forced his brain to evolve to be able to cope without it. He was the perfect watchman. He was able to watch over the girls as they slept in the wilderness without any problems. Drowsiness, grogginess, sleep deprivation. Those things didn't affect Vel. But alas this blocked him from something many took for granted. He couldn't dream. He often asked the girl's about theirs, but he had never experienced it in his lifetime. It was his one true desire.

Actually according to his parents, he was born with his semblance awoken leading them to be very stressed. A baby who never slept. The terror of every parent.

"Just wait here for a moment team." Carmine ordered them to do something and they were fine stopping.

The loud thud of big footsteps against the metal floor drew the team's attention. They drew their weapons. Though Carmine had never sheathed her spear. Vel had his handgun, Onyx in his right hand, and his short sword in the other. Sigal pulled Night huntress of her back, before knocking a bolt. Afanen had one of her Butterflies in each hand, ready to throw at a moment's notice.

A black and white blur leaped into the small line they had made, cause their formation to break. Two hateful eyes stared from a white mask decorated with red sigils. The grimm swung its arms to the left slamming Velvel into the wall. His aura healed the damage and shooted the pain quickly, but the hit low lighting was a major help to the Grimm as its black skin blended into the darkness of the complex.

Carmine opened with a snap shot of Crimson Dawn's built in musket. The village Carmine came from was quite behind on technology, and when she forged Crimson Dawn it had been the most technological weapon in her village. It was big shock at how ancient it was compared to modern firearms, but she kept it because by adding in a bit more dust it was essentially a small cannon now.

The Grimm roared and tried to bring its hands down to smash her, but she rolled out of the wayy. Vel had gotten up and while charging it had sunk about four shots into what he thought was the Grimm's body. After closing the very small gap between the two, Vel jumped on it sinking Opal into its back. The Grimm shook, trying to dislodge Vel, and try to grab him. It almost didn't work but a quick shot by Sigal, who unknowingly shot Vel made him lose his grip in shock. The Grimm held Vel into its hands and threw him at his team. He was able to recover as he hit the ground.

Butterflies went sailing next to him sinking into the Grimm. The small knives weren't made for doing a lot of damage, but Afanen carried like forty of them and having more than three sticking in you was quite annoying. They slowed the victim down and could be quite painful. Bee went sinking into the flesh of the Grimm. Afanen was striking one point then dancing around, under, and once over the Grimm before sinking the punching dagger into the Grimm again. The Grimm pulled a quick swipe behind him hitting poor Afanen who had jumped straight into the attack. The Grimm gave of a roud roar, and beat its chest. It turned when it felt an arrow sink into its back. However Vel jumped into it's guard, slamming his short sword into it's unarmored right side, before unloading what remained in his clip into it's jaw.

The Grimm gave one last weak swipe at the team, before falling, nearly crushing Vel who hadn't reacted fast enough. It started dissolving into smoke.

"Well we found what was in the cage Carmine. Why would they bring a Alpha Beringel here?" Vel asked as He emerged from the Grimm essence shrouding him.

"I don't know but that hurt." Afanen said as she joined back up with her teammates.

"Let's just get out of here before that force gets here." Carmine called Team VANC together and they moved once more.

"Alright after the next turn we should almost be there." The sound of a body hitting the floor stopped Vel in his tracks. Carmine, who had been leading had suddenly collapsed. He almost rushed after her, but noticed the gas that had been filling that hallway. "Get back, I'll retrieve her." Afanen and Sigal let him do his thing, he had the most experience with gases as the Grimm around his home often used them. Vel had to carry her out as Carmine was unresponsive. Not dead, but she ain't waking up relatively soon. Vel had to wonder if he took his mask of if he would finally be able to experience sleep. He threw away that idea for the sake of his friends.

"We'll have to use a different way." Sigal said.

"I could melt another hole in the wall?" Afanen supplied.

"No we're underground, we need to get back up. The only way I can think up would be finding the main entrance." Val said. Well they had a map. He threw his leader unceremoniously over his shoulder. Crimson dawn was taped to his back and he had to sheath Opal. He also had to grip his leader in a dangerous way that hopefully she would never find out about. Onyx was always held in front of him as the crowd continued. Vel had to give Afanen the map, so she could read it.

When they found the door it was covered in that gas. However Vel handed Carmine to Sigal to hold and opened the door from a nearby emergency open lever. The door opened only to find the reason why they couldn't find the entrance before. Whoever the idiot to design this complex put the door to the wind and snow had completely covered it.

"Afanen could you melt this?" Vel asked.

"Well yeah but what about the gas?"

"If you heat yourself up hot enough could you cause a chemical reaction mixing that gas and th elements in the air?" Sigal asked?

"Okay first off that assumes that the gas would react with the elements in the air. Second I would have to heat myself to the point where my fire retardant clothes would burn up!" Vel and Sigal looked at each other

"I'm not seeing a downside to this." Vel said. He wasn't a pervert, but he wasn't going to shoot down this plan that quickly.

"Vel!" Afanen slapped his arm.

"Well do you wish to try it? You could try holding your breath." Vel offered.

"Or what if she just wears your gas mask Vel?" Sigal asked. The other two looked at her. "What?"

"That's actually a good idea. Who are you, Sigal can't have those." Afanen teased Sigal who crossed her arms.

Vel reached up to take his mask off. This would be the first time he had taken it off during a mission, and the first time someone else had worn it.

"Be careful with it." Afanen nodded while reaching out to take it. Vel pulled it back, "Even if you do burn off your clothes I want this back." He almost gave it to her, before pulling it back once more. "If I don-

"Vel for the love of Oum give it to her." Sigal yelled at him. Vel let her take it and watched her put it on. It wasn't the snuggest fit, but it would have to do. Afanen approached the ice blocking their escape and started melting it. She had only heated everything lower than her elbows, just to make sure she didn't hurt the mask. She had been working at it for some time when she heard something through it. The voice was distorted but she could make out some words.

When she realised what was going to happen she rushed back to the team.

"Whats wrong?" Vel asked. Before she could speak however the ice exploded, showering the three with ice, water, and light. A small hole had opened up and Atlas' finest had begun approaching it. The three found what cover they could. Vel was the closest choosing to take a forward position at the edge of the door. Afanen had found some nearby pipes to hide behind, and Sigal had taken Carmine back to protect her.

A voice rang out "To those within the facility, surrender and you shall be given a fair execution." Vel raised an eyebrow, he was cocky. "Resistance shall be met with extreme repercussions."

"Go screw yourself!" Sigal yelled at the top of her lungs. Well there went diplomacy.

"You have sealed your fate." And the first atlas soldier entered the facility. Only to immediately be executed by one of Onyx's bullets to the head. HIs body hit the ground and that was the moment the others charged. The hole was only wide enough for maybe one and a half people to fit through but Afanen was useless at this range. And Sigal had a slower fire rate than Vel. Eventually Vel had to engage in hand to hand combat.

He called Afanen to close up while running a soldier through with Opal and finishing another with Onyx. She leaped over the pipe, charging a small line of three soldier. A bolt from Night Huntress sunk into the first ones chest dropping him to his knees. Afanen used him as a springboard propelling her over the second one who received a butterfly to the throat. The third had Afanen land on him causing a feminine _oof_ to escape him. His head hitting the ground knocked his helmet off revealing a woman who immediately got Bee to her throat. She looked up at the hole from which the enemies came from. A man in a lot of armor strode in. The explosion had spread the gas around so much it had diluted to almost nothing. He had no reason to worry. And about this time, magically, Carmine began to groggily wake up.

"Vel, Carmine's up, watch over her, I want some action!: Sigal called to him. Vel snapped his attention to her at the same time he snapped a soldier's neck.

"Coming!" However the man in the armor apparently decided Vel was his target and swung a greatsword at Vel. Vel slid under the swing and kept running, "Tag in." He slapped Sigal's hand as she ran by. She took a running shot before swinging Night Huntress' bayonet downward at the man.

Vel leaped behind the wall Sigal had left Carmine propped up against. "Hey sleeping beauty, Just because I can't sleep doesn't mean you need to sleep for the both of us." She looked strangely at him

"Where's your mask?"

"Afanen's got it. But come on we got an asshole who needs to have his armor introduced to a cannon." He unslung Crimson Dawn from his back and gave it to her. "By the way, I won't mention what you said when you were asleep. However I think Sigal is flattered."

She sputtered at him before catching his smirk. She laughed embarrassedly before smacking his arm. The pair rushed into battle.

"Afanen Switch!" Vel called out on his way to the battle. A loud boom erupted through the air as Crimson Dawn fired, caving in the man's chestplate, but not penetrating it.

"Careful Vel, he has chainmail under that. His weak points are protected." Afanen warned him. She fell back next to Carmine. "So I hear Sigal visited you during your sleep." Afanen wiggled her eyebrows.

"Nice try Vel already used that joke." Carmine had just about finished reloading her cannon-calibre musket.

Afanen smirked internally. "Who said it was a joke?" Carmine froze.

"Wait… Don't tell me." She looked at Afanen who was dying of laughter.

"Naw, we're just fucking with you. Sigal came up with that idea while you were thought asleep. it'd be funny. She was correct." Carmine glared at the other girl.

"You're on probation now Afanen." A small worth it was muttered under Afanen's mouth.

Carmine lined up another shot. She held her aim, waiting for the right chance.

Vel noticed she was ready and dashed to his left trying to get the man to show his back to Carmine. Generally the back was the most lightly armored. The man never saw it coming. The shot tore through his armor shredding what it hit and causing the rest to dent from the shock. He staggered forward, surprised. Vel jumped on his distraction. Vel grabbed the man's helmet forced it up a moment. The man tried to use his left hand to grab Vel's hand, but wasn't quick enough to stop Opal from sinking into his chest cavity by tearing through his neck. Vel pulled Opal out.

That was the problem with Aura, Vel mused. It made one feel invincible, light wounds knitting themselves up seconds after they are taken. But in vital areas Aura might not even be able to save someone. Too big a wound and aura can't heal it. There was a reason why Doctors were needed. And it wasn't just for the auraless.

Team VACS regrouped at the hole. A remasked Vel stuck his head out the hole. Apparently the soldiers ditched the tank because it sat there, cockpit open and empty. Idiots, thought Vel.

"Clear." The team exited the facility. They sat around the spider tank.

Sigal asked the important question, "So how are we getting home?" Clearly the horse they rode in on was out of the question. Carmine looked at the cockpit of the Spider tank.

"I might have an idea, that might just work." The three looked at her, then what she was looking at, then each other.

Three simultaneous no's erupted from her team.

"Think logically they must have taken a bullhead, or a way to contact one." Afanen said.

Vel walked back to the guy in armor. He searched the body, having to remove various pieces of armor. He returned with a scroll, unlocked because idiots don't lock them. The guy had a contact called bullhead with a picture of one. Vel sent a message rather than calling in case picked up recognised that this wasn't the man in armor. The message merely said mission complete, come get them.

They ended up waiting and talking about other ways of escape if the bullhead didn't come. And after they exhausted that conversation, the girls resorted to their favorite timewaster of Truth or Dare. Vel proceeded to make some excuse about looting corpses. He never joined in a game of that, nothing good ever came from it. However when he returned the three were still playing to his dismay. They were going to force him to join them. However he had a plan and suggested that that the three get in the cockpit of the tank and get some sleep.

The cockpit was made wide enough for two people, however the extra third person, while making it uncomfortable, would share body heat and help keep warmth. The three reluctantly agreed. Vel was relieved that they liked sleep. And that was how he was sitting on top of the tank, just where the cockpit's glass met the metal, and keeping watch. Every once and awhile he would make sure the three was still sleeping, and that no one had rolled over and was suffocating. He had even found a blanket in the back and draped it over the three.

He heard the bullhead before he saw it. Bullheads are loud vehicles. Vel stretched, and slid of the tank. He pried open the cockpit, the three sleeping girls shivering in the new cold, and huddling together even more. He had accounted for this situation and was able to quickly take a picture for blackmail material. He lightly shook Carmine's leg.

"Wha- oh, hey Vel, quick question how warm are you?" She was obviously not awake yet.

"Come on it's time to get up guys, bullhead is incoming." Vel shook Sigal, who being a light sleeper woke instantly.

"Okay, that was pleasant. I might have to do that more often. Wait, where did the blanket come from?" Vel took it off them. "Oh, Vel you shouldn't have." Afanen was the last one out. She woke up fairly quickly but didn't want to go back into the cold.

They were ready when the bullhead actually arrived. It's doors dropped down to reveal a man in a pilot's suit standing there. He was surprised at seeing people who he wasn't supposed to pick up.

"Who are y-" His protest died when a Butterfly was introduced to him. VACS walked past the still dying man who had slumped to his knees, hands holding is throat in disbelief. Vel entered the cockpit at the same time Afanen ripped the Butterfly from the man's throat.

"Good Day, I'll be the pilot for this flight." Vel said to the man in the bullhead's pilot seat. He slammed Opal down to the hilt through the man's chest. He grabbed the man's shoulder and pulled him out of the seat at the same he pulled Opal out. "Hey Carmine, want to hide a dead body?" Carmine came in and shook her head at Vel's attitude. But she helped him drag the body out the vehicle and into the snow. As the body free bullhead's door closed, Team VACS stood in the bay.

"So I have a feeling we aren't going to get paid." Sigal said.

"Well we have a bullhead now." Vel wasn't complaining. A private bullhead cost like eight times what they were going to get paid.

"Its technically a stolen bullhead, Vel." Carmine told him. Wow, way to bring down the mood, Velvel thought. "Besides no one can fly it."

"Ah, now that's where you're wrong dear leader." Afanen walked into the cockpit and returned with a book. "All bullheads come equipped with a instruction manual for just this occasion. She shoved the book into Velvel's arms. "So you read it Vel. I'm going to take another nap. I got like fifteen minutes of sleep. And I assume the others would like some as well." Afanen curled up on one of the seats in the bullhead. The other two followed suit. Vel sat down a fair distance from where Sigal was trying to sleep.

He opened the book, but before anyone had fallen asleep he muttered tho them, "Sweet dreams." The others heard him, but no one commented on it.

 **Author's note.**

 **So here was my first attempt at a story. Feedback is greatly appreciated. If you do find mistakes, please tell me about them, I'll try my best to fix them.**


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